Scripting News

Future-safe archives

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 04:34:02 GMT

I just woke up in Paris, it's 5:34AM here, but back in California, it still never ceases to amaze me, the day hasn't yet flipped. You guys haven't even gone to bed yet! Now that's amazing to me. What perseverence! Keep up the good work everybody.

I just started posting a couple of twits that really should be a blog post, so let's get started.

First at some point, after a suitable period of mourning, I'd like to rasie the issue of what's to happen with Marc Orchant's web presence.

Which of course is a way of focusing attention on all of our web presences.

None of us like to think of it, but truth is none of us are going to live forever.

Yet if you read this, it's likely that you're creating a digital body that can and imho should continue to exist even after your physical body stops existing.

People are humble, no one wants to come out and say their work has any value that's worth preserving past their death, but come on, we know that's not true. If Shakespeare were alive today, he'd be writing on the web. As would Hemingway or Faulkner, Vonnegut or Mailer, John Lennon or Dylan Thomas, Carl Sandberg or Robert Frost. Mozart, Bach and Beethoven. You think there isn't any great literature out there on the web? I wouldn't be so sure about that. What if there is? And what if a baby born today becomes a great creative force? Or what if there's a social disaster like the Holocaust? Did you know that there are preserved diaries from pre-revolutionary America? Writings of ordinary people can be of enormous help to historians. And if we believe in citizen journalism (I do) why not citizen historians? Shouldn't we be thinking out into the future? We should!

With all possible humility, I'd like to tell you that a few days after I die my entire web presence will likely disappear. My servers require some attention from me from time to time. The first time that happens, poof, there goes 10-plus years of Scripting News, and all the docs for the OPML Editor and the OPML spec, the XML-RPC site, to name just a few. Anyway, within a couple of months it will all certainly disappear, unless someone pays my hosting and DSL bills. Maybe someone will, but isn't it ridiculous that that's what it depends on?

And when my sites disappear so will my uncle's. He died in 2003. His site is still accessible because I keep it that way. When I die, who will will take over for me? I'm sure the world will survive without his writing, but why? If I love the memory of my uncle, and I do, what can I do to reserve a place for him in the archive of the future. It seems such a small thing, but it's most of what remains of his life.

And what of academics, Nobel Laureates and others? I know for a fact that a great university (Harvard) has no plan to protect their web-based work after they pass. It's so ironic that the web offers an archival solution for non-digital work, yet the web information is more fragile than the physical stuff.

Preserving our digital heritage is going to require some foresight, some planning, but it seems possible and we surely can do much better. Marc's fate awaits us all. While we're still alive, there's still time to solve this problem. When we're gone, it will be too late. Part of his legacy can be that he helped focus us on this issue, and his life work could be a great test case. Do we want to see his work preserved? And if so, how will it be done?

PS: The RSS 2.0 site will likely persist, because I gave it to Berkman, and then used it as a test cast to learn about future-safing archives. It seems likely to continue to exist, knock wood, praise Murphy, as long as Harvard exists.

Tonight's speakers dinner

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:09:17 GMT

In Paris, we're ready to go to bed (it's still just 2PM in Calif) and I have some pics from tonight's speakers dinner.

Delia Cohen of Pangea Day and the TED conference.

Doc Searls and Erik Stuart (eBay).

Henri Asseily, founder of Shopzilla.

Doc Searls shooting a picture of me.

Marc Canter and Loic Le Meur.

Louvre and Eifel

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:53:25 GMT

Today's pics from the Eifel Tower and Musee de Louvre.

A hypothetical uber-contact manager

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 09:12:13 GMT

Paolo hypothesizes a much-needed tool in a post yesterday, and a follow-up today.

Dinner with friends at Chez Clement

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 22:28:42 GMT

These pictures were taken at Chez Clement, in Paris, this evening. A good time was had by all!

The tag for photos from this conference is leweb307.

Greetings from Paris!

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 17:56:25 GMT

The train ride was easy.

London was rainy and cold.

So is Paris.

"cheesecake"

Jemima Kiss

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 16:31:06 GMT

Scoble and Son

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 14:36:34 GMT

Riding the escalator in the Leicester Square station of the London Underground.

Aunt Anita & Scoble

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 14:40:17 GMT

London Underground

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:44:50 GMT

Complete New Yorker archive on a hard disk

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:48:44 GMT

I saw an ad in yesterday's NY Times that offered the complete New Yorker magazine archive, including all the cartoons and ads, going back to 1920-something for a bit more than the hard disk would cost. The ad was from J&R, the company that makes the product is Pexagon. $149. Sounds like there might be DRM.

I asked for something like this from the music business. A hundred gigs of popular music for $500, all pre-installed on the disk without DRM.

Someone at the New Yorker had this idea too? It's a good one. Bulk content for collector types. Another source of revenue. I want to run my own personal radio station, so having every song of a certain genre or from a certain period makes the diff.

A new way to get in Club140

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:55:54 GMT

Bonjour mes amis!

If you post a twit with my name in it following an at-sign that is exactly 140 characters in length, my little script will pick it up and add you Le Club 140. (Practicing my French!)

For example...

@davewiner, you are a very nice person and I enjoy sending you replies. I have actually nothing to say, but when has that stopped me before?

If you posted that, your name would appear here...

http://club140.org/

Of course you will be more original, won't you?

Meanwhile, in other news, Club 140 has caused at least one person to swear off Twitter forever. Too bad so sad! :-(

I found the watch!

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:08:31 GMT

Normal life can now resume.

Club 140

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:43:09 GMT

Just for fun I'm keeping track of people I follow who have posted "perfect" Twitter messages, ones that are exactly 140 characters long.

http://club140.org/

Here's the announcement, which of course, is a perfect 140.

The number one feature request for http:\//club140.org/ is our own RSS feed, so of course, that's exactly what I implemented. Everyone happy?

Lost my watch

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:15:47 GMT

Lost my watch somewhere in the house, and now I wish Apple sold one.

Where is Apple's watch.

Who makes the iPod of watches?

What's the real story??

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:10:19 GMT

Bush and Cheney knew what was going to be in the NIE for months. That's not a stretch. It's completely unbelievable that they didn't ask or weren't told what was coming.

They tried to drum up support for a war anyway.

Hoping to rush us to war. Then the NIE would come out and they'd say that no one knew that there was no nuclear program in Iran.

The only question is why they didn't start the bombing.

Could it be that they gave the order and the military didn't do it?

In the meantime one has to wonder why the French president Sarkozy was saying the same things about Iran along with Cheney and Bush.

There's a back-story we're not hearing.

Bowling for gold

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:30:36 GMT

My mom sent a news clipping about some seniors who have bowling tournaments with their Wii's. Of course it's on the web too, but there's something nice about getting a clip in the mail from mom.

Zune as a podcast player?

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 15:59:13 GMT

A discussion of Zune as a podcast player has begun under the late November Casting in 2007 piece.

NPR radio debate

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 00:37:12 GMT

I caught a bit of today's radio debate between the Democratic presidential candidates.

NPR is providing it as an MP3 download. Much appreciated.

One thing's for sure, we dodged a big World War III size bullet today with the National Intelligence Estimate. Looks like the military didn't want to go to war with Bush, again.

Now a question for the electorate, how do we make sure that the next president gets the message loud and clear -- no more bullshit wars. I think a late-term impeachment and trial of Bush and Cheney would help make the point to future presidents. Fuck with the people again and we'll have your ass.

That Bush even thinks about legacy is a travesty. He belongs in jail. That's his legacy.

The creative process

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:55:16 GMT

I've been focused for the last 1.5 months on creating something new. It's amazing how much work it takes to do this. In the end you strive to make it look so simple and install so easily that it seems obvious and trivial. But after all that, if it worked, people are creating in ways they weren't before. That's the gratification available to creativity. These days it's rarely rewarded with money. Okay, that's the way it goes, and in some sense is the way it's always been. The reward of art is insight. The reward of achievement is the possibility of more achievement. Having done it once, you always want to do it again, the next time on your terms, but it never works out that way.

Creativity is a process like seduction. The idea has to be teased out, you have to come at it straight on, then from the side, then sneak up from the rear. It isn't until you understand all facets of a problem that the solution is revealed, and then, if it's really a solution, it reveals a whole new class of problems. (The joy of platforms.)

I think I got there this time. I have to wait a couple of weeks before taking the next step. Now I have to get ready to get out of town. There may be more writing here, maybe not. We'll find out soooon enough!

Want something more to read? Check out this piece about different things we've done with RSS. Think about it. Moving the ball forward in one of these directions is what's next.